szquirrel writes: Researchers from North Carolina State University sponsored by ImageOptix Corporation have developed new a polarization conversion system that makes LED-lit projectors much more efficient. Unlike an ordinary polarizing filter, which wastes more than 50% of the light passing through it, the new system splits, aligns, and recombines the polarized beams to use 90% of the original unpolarized light. Tiny projectors could shine twice as bright or twice as long with much less cooling and the system is even small enough to embed in a smartphone or tablet.